Chenna Recipe | How To Make Chhena
Chenna is nothing but soft, moist and crumbly cottage cheese that is made in the eastern parts of India. It is made with milk that is curdled with an acidic ingredients like lemon juice or vinegar and later strained. Chenna is often used to make a variety of sweets and desserts.
Servings: 350 grams Chenna
Calories: 156kcal
Ingredients
ingredients:
- 1 litre whole milk
- 1 tablespoon vinegar or 1 tablespoon lemon juice or 2 to 3 tablespoon yogurt (curd or dahi) - add more if required
materials required:
- 1 saucepan - medium-sized
- 1 clean cotton cloth or cheese cloth or muslin
- a heavy weight like a pestle or a heavy bowl or plate
Instructions
- First bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan.
- Reduce heat to medium or medium-low.
- Next add lemon juice or vinegar or yogurt. Stir and mix thoroughly and you will see the milk getting curdled.
- Ideally the milk should get curdled at once after you stir the lime juice or vinegar. Just keep extra lime juice ready with you, in case the milk does not curdle.
- When you see the greenish whey, pour the curdled milk in to pan lined with a thin cotton napkin or muslin. You can also use cheese cloth.
- Once you are done adding all the curdled milk, then bring together the edges of the cotton napkin or muslin and gently squeeze out the remaining whey from it.
- The greenish whey is rich in nutrients and can be added to gravies or to make rotis/chapatis and even pulaos, bread doughs.
- Rinse the collected bundle of chenna in water. This will get rid of the after taste and smell of either the lemon juice or vinegar.
- Keep a heavy weight like a mortar or a plate on the chenna bundle for 6 to 7 minutes.
- Later remove the chenna and then use it accordingly to make sweets like sandesh, cham cham, rasmalai and rasgulla.
Notes
- Use whole milk. Skimmed milk or low fat milk won't work well.
- For the lemon juice, use juice squeezed from fresh lemons and not bottled juice.
- Opt to use white distilled vinegar or apple cider vinegar or curd (yogurt) instead of lemon juice.
- Ensure that all your pans, bowls, spoons, strainers and cheesecloth, napkins etc are clean.
Nutrition
Calories: 156kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 98mg | Potassium: 391mg | Fiber: 0.01g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 418IU | Vitamin B1 (Thiamine): 0.1mg | Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): 0.4mg | Vitamin B3 (Niacin): 0.3mg | Vitamin B6: 0.2mg | Vitamin B12: 1µg | Vitamin C: 1mg | Vitamin D: 3µg | Vitamin E: 0.1mg | Vitamin K: 1µg | Calcium: 317mg | Vitamin B9 (Folate): 1µg | Iron: 0.003mg | Magnesium: 31mg | Phosphorus: 261mg | Zinc: 1mg
